


Edge Of Tonight

by Jazznsmoke



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Dialogue Light, Endgame fix it, F/M, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-18
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:08:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29528262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jazznsmoke/pseuds/Jazznsmoke
Summary: Peter knew the exact moment Tony’s heart stopped beating on its own. His vision blacked out around the edges as he shoved past Ms. Potts. He gripped the beaten up Iron Man suit and ripped it apart like an offensive piece of paper. He tossed the suit aside and pulled Mr. Stark until he was laying flat.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 2
Kudos: 41





	Edge Of Tonight

**Author's Note:**

> Y'all please mind the tags. Endgame was rough for a lot of people. This is better than how they did us. But mind your mental health and read the tags. Check the end notes for warnings.

The battle blurred…Until Tony snapped his gauntlet wielding fingers. Then everything went HD and slowed down to a crawl for Peter. He could hear every beat of Tony’s heart as it struggled to keep blood pumping.

Peter knew the exact moment Tony’s heart stopped beating on its own. His vision blacked out around the edges as he shoved past Ms. Potts. He gripped the beaten up Iron Man suit and ripped it apart like an offensive piece of paper. He tossed the suit aside and pulled Mr. Stark until he was laying flat.

Then, hummed Stayin’ Alive by the Bee Gees, under his breath.

The extensive CPR training May and Ben sent him to as a young teen flooded through his mind, forcing away his rising panic. He focused solely on performing CPR on Mr. Stark, listening intently for his heart to begin beating again on its own.

He was shoved. He looked up from his ministrations, focus only slightly broken. He continued the CPR. Recognition flooded in. Colonel Rhodes wanted him to move aside and allow him to take over.

The teen hesitated for a split second before moving over. He vaguely registered someone’s hands on his shoulders, guiding him. He thought it may have been Captain America or the Winter Soldier.

He couldn’t say how long he kneeled there, watching with a sick fascination as Colonel Rhodes performed CPR until Dr Cho was there and hooking Mr. Stark up to machines and placing him on a stretcher. The blackness at the edges of his vision creeped further and further in, until everything was black and his grip on consciousness left him completely.

Peter woke in a hospital bed, full of aches and pains but no real memory of how he ended up there.

He blinked his eyes open and looked around. Bucky Barnes, the Winter Soldier sat in a chair only a few feet away from him. His eyes widened with shock.

Memories began pouring in.

Thanos.

Orange.

Dr. Strange.

Battle.

Mr. Stark.

Mr. Stark!

CPR.

Colonel Rhodes taking over.

Then, nothing.

“Mr. Stark! Where is-is he?” Peter yelped.

Mr. Barnes leaned forward. “he’s here. In surgery.” He pulled a Stark Phone from his tac pants pockets and tapped out a message.

Peter couldn’t fully process the Winter Soldier’s words. Before he could ask any more questions the door slid open. Captain America entered, a haggard and yet very soft smile on his face.

“Hey, Queens. How ya doing?”

Peter stared at the Super Soldier, mouth opening and closing like a fish. “Uh? Sore, I guess?” He finally settled on saying. “Mr. Stark?” 

“Tony’s in surgery, but from our last update he’s doing fine.”

All Peter could focus on was Mr. Stark and if he would live.

“Can I- can I go to him?” He whispered, “Is that okay?”

Steve smiled, “Of course, Queens. Let’s make sure you’re good to be discharged and then we’ll wait with the others.”

“O-okay.”

After what felt like an eternity to Peter, his doctors discharged him, warning him to take it easy. He didn’t hear a word they said. He donned the provided hospital scrubs in a fog, relying on muscle memory only.

Silently he followed behind Captain America and the Winter Soldier. On a normal day he’d be ecstatic to be around the Super Soldiers, asking them rapid fire questions.

Distantly a part of his brain reminded the young hero of Germany. They aren’t the good guys anymore. He couldn’t bring himself to care. Not if they could take him to his ~~dad~~ mentor.

The soldiers led him to an elevator. He stepped in, nervously twisting his fingers together. The three rose several floors and stepped into a waiting room filled with people. Slowly, Peter’s brain registered it was full of Avengers and Mr. Starks friends.

In one corner of the room sat Happy with a young child in his lap, asleep. Ms. Potts rose from a chair across from Happy and the little kid and crossed the room to Peter. She pulled the teen into a tight hug.

“Oh, Sweety. I should have been there when you woke up,” She whispered directly into his ear.

He shrugged. Ms. Potts pulled away and looked at him with eyes full of sadness. He didn’t want to know why.

Colonel Rhodes stepped over to him and Ms. Potts. He placed a reassuring hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“Hey, Pete.”

Peter’s mind flashed back to meeting the Colonel only a few short months back (or really, five years if Dr. Strange was right).

“Hi, Colonel Rhodes, sir.”

“Just Rhodey, Pete, or James. C’mon, let’s go out in the hall, bud.” Rhodes kept his hand on Peter’s shoulder and guided him from the room. Rhodes called over his shoulder for someone to get enough food to feed three enhanced individuals and the rest of them.

Mechanical braces whirred quietly as they walked towards a row of benches. The Colonel sat down, motioning for Peter to do the same.

“You’ve got a lot to process, kid, and a lot for me to tell you. I think sooner is better than later. If that’s alright?”

Rhodey and Peter locked eyes. A pit of dread opened up in the teens stomach but he nodded anyways.

“You saved Tony’s life, kid. If you hadn’t started CPR when you did we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Mr. Stark shouldn’t have snapped.” Peter gulped back his bubbling anxiety. He pushed around it. “Dr. Strange said five-it’s been five years since Thanos…snapped?”

“Yeah,” Rhodey nodded sadly. “The world fell apart. We all did what we could…but everyone lost someone. Tony invented time travel.”

“Woah,” Peter’s eyes widened.

“Woah is right. He did it for you. Not long after you were dusted Pepper found out she was pregnant. Tony hid his grief over losing you but for years he spiraled. He’s a great dad.”

Peter sat in stunned silence.

Rhodey continued, “he told Morgan all about her big brother, Peter. He told her Spider-man stories. She has ALL the Spidey merch there is.” He paused to laugh. “Anyways, kid. His love for you and Morg didn’t leave much room for anything else. While you were gone Pepper and Tony split up.

The teens stomach dropped hearing about Pepper and Tony.

Rhodey smiled reassuringly. “It’s not all bad, I promise. Pepper and Tony are still close. Actually, Tony is with Steve these days.”

Peter cut in, “What? Didn’t Captain Rogers HURT Mr. Stark?”   
The Colonel chuckled darkly. “Fences have been mended. Like I said, a lot has changed.”

“Okay. Um, wow, that’s a lot.” Peter hesitated. “Colon-Mr. Rhodey?”

Rhodey raised his brows.

“Um, do you know what happened to my aunt? Did she get dusted too? Is she okay?”

The older man visibly paled. “She didn’t dust. Pete, she passed away two years ago.”

Tears welled up and his throat tightened. His body wracked with the force of his sobbing. He felt his heart break into a trillion pieces.

Rhodey pulled Peter close and wrapped him into a tight hug. They sat together for a long while, long after the tears welled up.

“Wha-what do I do?” Peter hiccupped into Rhodey’s shoulder.

Rhodey pulled back to look Peter in the eyes. “I don’t know all the details but I do know Tony and your aunt had several plans in place if they got you back or if anything happened to either of them. Pepper knows them all. Later, after you’ve had some time to ear and wrap your head around everything we’ll figure that out. For now, myself, Happy, Pepper and Steve will take care of you.”

Peter nodded, unsure of what else to say, what he could even possibly say, given all he’d been told.

After several minutes of silence Peter looked back towards Rhodey. “Do you know if they cremated or buried my aunt?” He almost didn’t want to know.

Rhodey looked thoughtful for a moment before he finally answered. “I think Tony had her buried. There wasn’t a service. He wanted to wait until he got you back. I think Tony looked into where your uncle was buried and had her laid to rest with him.

An infentisamile amount of tension loosened within his body. Aunt May was gone, but at least Mr. Stark had buried her with Uncle Ben. Its what she would have wanted. He was grateful for that.

“I-is there anything else I need to know?”

“Nothing imperative, I think.” Rhodey admitted. “Ready to get some food, kiddo?”

Peter nodded despite not feeling the slightest bit hungry and followed Rhodey back to the waiting room.

Everyone was still there. The little girl-he assumed it was Mr. Starks daughter- wasn’t on Happy’s lap anymore. She sat next to him, eating.   
Every one turned to look at Peter and Rhodey.

Ninety percent of the room he had only met when he fought with or against them in Germany, with Mr. Stark.

Some offered the teen smiles, some walked over and introduced themselves. A week ago (or five years, really) Peter would have jumped with excitement at meeting his heroes, the Avengers. Now, though? It was tainted with sorrow and pure heart break. A sliver of him felt the tiniest bit of excitement, the fanboy he was at heart, but it was overshadowed by everything else.

Happy, Pepper and Morgan Stark stayed sitting, but Pepper waved Peter over after several introductions were made to those he didn’t know in the room.

Followed by Rhodey, Peter made his way over.

  
He only made it a few steps before a blur of four year old Morgan Stark was up and running from her seat, straight at him. She threw her arms around his legs and buried her face into his stomach.

“You’re my big brother, Peter! Daddy told me you were gonna come home and meet me, someday!”

Flabbergasted, Peter swallowed back tears. He slowly lifted his arms from his sides and wrapped them around the little girl.

He looked around the room at all of the adults. He hoped he wasn’t out of line hugging her back.

Every adult was staring and smiling. Some, like Pepper and Steve had tears in their eyes. He assumed he was doing the right thing, based on their reactions. He pulled back from the little girl to kneel down in front of her. She smiled shyly at him before throwing her arms around him again. He looped his arms around her and effortlessly picked her up. He wasn’t sure what to do from there until Happy patted the seat next to him.

For nearly two hours Peter sat next to Happy with Mr. Stark and Ms. Pott’s daughter in his lap. The adults in the room held conversations amongst themselves, glancing at the two occasionally. Morgan, on the other hand, regaled him with story after story.

Then, out of nowhere the room went dead silent, save for Morgan whose words trickled off. Peter’s spider sense buzzed painfully at the base of his neck. His head whipped up and towards the door. A doctor in scrubs and PPE stood just inside the waiting room.

“Tony Stark’s family and friends?” The doctor asked.

Pepper and Steve stood and met the doctor by the door. Morgan climbed from Peter’s lap and back onto Happy’s. He immediately missed the warmth and comfort the little girl, who thought of him as a big brother, had unwittingly provided.

“Are either of you Mr. Starks emergency contacts?”   
Pepper nodded. The doctor motioned for them to step out into the hallway. Even with his heart racing, pounding in his ears, Peter could hear the soft conversation between the doctor, Pepper and Steve.

Peter blocked everything and everyone else out, focusing entirely on the conversation in the hall.

“Captain, Ms. Potts, Mr. Stark is still in surgery. I wanted to come out myself and update you, his family. We’re doing all that we can, but, his injuries are very severe.”

“What can we expect?” Steve asked.

“It’s hard to tell at this moment in time. It’s my understanding you’re flying in Helen Cho to oversee Mr. Stark’s medical care?”

“That’s correct. She’s the best and already familiar with Tony’s medical history,” Pepper agreed.

“We’ll keep you informed. We’ve got Mr. Stark in OR 2, just down the hall.” He paused. “We have the best doctors in the hospital working on him.”

At that Peter forced himself to stop listening to the conversation in the hall. Instead, he listened to all the other sounds on that floor in hopes of finding Tony’s heart beating among it all.

The sound of Tony’s heart beat is one he knew better than his own. In all the time he had known Tony he had listened to the man’s heart beating to calm himself from nightmares, anxiety and panic attacks. 

More often than not, nights he stayed over at the Tower he had fallen asleep to Tony’s heart beating while watching movies together on the couch.

A background noise, strong and steady in the workshop while they worked on different projects.

Peter listened for that heart beat like his life depended on it. In a way it did. He couldn’t lose Tony, not after losing his parents, Uncle Ben and Aunt May. He didn’t have anyone else. Not anyone that could potentially be a parent to him.

When he finally found Tony’s he nearly jumped from his seat in excitement. His heart was beating!

His excitement drained out of him. His heart may be beating but it was labored, almost stuttering. Peter could hear doctors and nurses talking, the machines humming and beeping in Tony’s room.

He knew, he knew how bad it was but hearing Tony’s heart beating filled him with hope.

Hope that Tony would be okay. That Peter would be oaky. Everything would work out, it had to.

He leaned back in the uncomfortable hospital chair and closed his eyes. He let out a deep sigh of relief. He continued to listen to Tony, but allowed himself to tune back into his immediate surroundings.

Everyone in the room was tense, still waiting for Pepper and Steve to come back. Happy turned to Peter, momentarily glaring.

“What do you know, kid?”

“I can hear Tony’s heart beating,” he admitted with a shrug. “The doctor is still talking to Captain Rogers and Ms. Potts and he’s really worried but Mr. Stark is okay right now.”

Happy rolled his eyes, a fond and rare smile appearing for a moment. “I almost forgot about your freaky hearing, kid.”

\-----------------------------------------

Everyone continued chatting, catching each other up on the past five years.

Peter sat to the right of Happy, half heartedly listening to the tales of what had been happening. He’d already been sitting there for a few hours. Despite the fear and anxiety still coursing through him, he began dozing off.

He fought to keep his eyes open, blinks becoming longer and longer the heavier they got. His breathe evened out.

\--------------------------------------

He woke with a start. Everything was too loud, too bright. The clothing touching his skin was painful like someone sewed the scrubs with shards of glass.

He looked around wildly eyes wide, pupils blown. No one noticed- or they didn’t pay him any mind. He slowly sat up, eyes still searching the room.

Too loud. Too loud.

One noise above the rest stood out. One heart beat amongst dozens. Farther away but maybe the loudest of them all.

For a single moment that beating heart tethered him, pulled him away from the too loud voices, painful clothing, the overpowering smells that definitely didn’t go together.

Everything stopped. He couldn’t hear or feel or smell anything except for that heart beat stuttering to a stop and a long mechanical beep taking its place.

Flat lining.

Isn’t that what it’s called in doctor shows, like Grey’s Anatomy or ER?

Realization dawned, hitting him in the gut with a wave of pain so horrible he thought he may actually die, too.

He mumbled something about feeling sick and leaned forward; hunched over his knees. He felt a hand rub his back soothingly.

He recoiled away from the comfort.

He stood up abruptly and darted from the room. All he could hear was the monitor signaling that Tony’s heart had stopped beating.

He ran nearly blindly from the room and out into the hallway he and Rhodey had sat in just a few hours prior. He kept running even once he found a door marked ‘stairs’.

He leaped down an entire flight, and then another, running from that terrible sound.

He shoved open an emergency exit into the cold night air.

Peter had no idea where he was but he also didn’t care. He was more like a spooked horse than a teenage boy.

He looked down at his hands that vaguely hurt. He realized that somehow he had picked up a set of keys with a fob attached. He had no idea how or where he’d gotten them, but he did know that he didn’t care who they belonged to or where he got them. It was a way to get far, far away from that hospital. That sound.

He pressed the lock button once until it honked. He ran directly towards the honk had come from. Pressing the button one more time landed his eyes directly on the prize- an all-black car with extremely dark tinted windows. Peter fumbled as he hit unlock. He jumped into the front seat.

The car started with no hesitation, purring to life. The headlights blinked on automatically.

Heart pounding in his ears he jumped over the door and directly into the now abandoned drivers seat of Flash’s car. He threw the car out of park and into drive, glancing down every few seconds at Ned’s phone blinking up at him with coordinates to his own phone.

Shit, shit, shit, headlights! Headlights, where are you?

Peter, decked in his original Spiderman suit that he had made by hand, started pressing all the buttons he could see on the dash. None of them turned on the headlights. “Ned! I don’t know how to turn on the headlights!”

Peter shook off the memory and took the car out of park. He pulled out of the parking lot, flooring the accelerator. Driving at high speeds, he left the parking lot and took random turns.

He veered in and out of his own lane, crossing the white and yellow lines with alarming speed. Anyone would have assumed it was a drunk driver.

Sharp corners, no street lights. It was dangerous. Peter relied on his Spidey Sense to warn him. He couldn’t think, couldn’t feel beyond his terror and pain.

Tears slid down his cheeks, unnoticed until they made it impossible to see. He slammed on the brakes, jolting forward. He pulled the car off the road and into a ditch. He forced the car into park and threw the door open. He left it running as he dashed off into the trees. He fell to his knees and vomited the little he had managed to eat in the waiting.

When his stomach was finally emptied of its contents he stumbled further into the woods.

It didn’t matter to Peter that it was nearly too dark to see even with his enhanced senses.

He started running. He ran until his legs were shaking and he couldn’t take another step without his legs giving out on him. The teen leaned against a tree and slid down to huddle at its base. He sobbed.

By time the sobbing turned into muffled whimpers his entire body shook from the cold. Peter drew his knees to his chest and wrapped arms around his legs. He buried his face into the space between his knees and chest.

Exhaustion and cold took over, forcing his weary eyes closed. He fell into a troubled sleep full of nightmares.

He couldn’t wake up, couldn’t leave the nightmares and wake up. Waking up was just as bad. A slide show of his worst fears, his failures played for him like a DVD on repeat. Hurting and disappointing Aunt May, not saving Uncle Ben. He dreamt Uncle Ben’s death over and over. And of performing CPR on Mr. Stark-except this time no one helped him, there was only the steady sound of a Flat Line.

He gasped for air, wrenching himself from his nightmares. He couldn’t breathe. He fell forward and lay flat on the cold ground.

The fall forward knocked him out of the cold, harsh panic and his breathing started to even out.

He stood up and glanced around before he started walking again.

He walked with only his thoughts to keep him company.

Aunt May is gone.

Mr. Stark is gone.

I’m alone.

I have nothing left.

Those four thoughts were the only things he could think about. He couldn’t feel or hear anything. Not the sounds around him, not the freezing cold. Not even the rumblings of his empty stomach.

Time passed him by. Minutes or hours went by without a thought to them.

He was pulled from them, at some point, by yelling coming from different directions.

“Peter!”

“Pete!”

“Pete, can you hear us?”

He didn’t want to hear them. He covered his ears and curled himself into a ball. He ignored the yelling.

He couldn’t ignore the hands on his own, pulling them away from his ears. He squeezed his eyes shut tight.

A soft hand pushed the hair away from his forehead and eyes and then cupped his cheek gently.

Peter peaked his eyes open.

Colonel Rhodes. Of course it was Colonel Rhodes.

“Go back!” Peter croaked around his sore throat. When did his throat become so sore? “You should be with Ms. Potts and, and Mo-Morgan.”

“Pete, everyone’s been looking for you,” Rhodey ignored him.

“Shouldn’t…not with Mr. Stark-“ He broke off with a cough that turned into sobbing. How he could still have tears left was beyond him.

Rhodey tugged on Peter’s arms, pulling the teen until he landed in Rhodey’s lap. He wrapped his arms around Peter, rubbing soothing circles on his back until the sobs had tapered off.

“Why’d you run away, Pete?”

“Just go! You shouldn’t be here!” Peter shouted and pulled away. He scrambled back until his back collided with a tree trunk. He curled back around himself and buried his face in his knees.

The Colonel scooted back on the wet ground, giving Peter more space.

Slight static filled the air. “I found Peter.” Colonel Rhodes was talking into a comm unit. Faint chatter could be heard over the unit. Rhodey waited until the chatter died down to talk into it again. “He’s upset. Happy, you know him best.”

More chatter.

“Copy that. FRIDAY has the coordinates.”

Wind whistled through the trees, ruffling Peter’s hair. Rhodes watched, silent, as the teen hunched in on himself even further. He debated taking his coat off to give to the boy, but given his previous reactions, Rhodes didn’t think that it would be appreciated.

Peter continued to huddle into himself, shivering violently. Peter tilted his head and tucked his face into his arms, hugging his legs. He blatantly forced himself to ignore Rhodey a few short feet away from him.

Heavy footsteps approached them, walking fast. They made no effort to move quietly. They intentionally stepped on sticks and rustled bushes. The footsteps stopped next to Rhodey. Peter tilted his head up enough to peak at who else arrived.

He wasn’t surprised to see Happy Hogan. He watched Tony’s driver and head of security for only a brief moment, before tucking his head back in. It was just long enough to see Happy motion for Rhodey to step away and give them some space.

He listened to the footsteps of Rhodey as he walked away, and the steps of Happy as he took a few steps closer.

“Hey, kid.”

“Hi, Happy.” Peter sniffled.

“You know you’ve got all of the Avengers out here searching for you?”

Peter shrugged.

Happy sighed. He nodded his head towards the ground next to Peter. “Do you mind?”

The slightest nod from Peter and Happy moved to sit on the ground next to the teen. “Want to explain why you took off?”

I’m alone now,” Peter answered after excruciating moments of silence. The teen lifted his head and blinked rapidly, trying to chase away the tears.

Happy nodded. “It took me awhile to put it together, you running off. Dr. Cho updated us not long after you said you weren’t feeling well.” He frowned. “It took me even longer to realize why you actually took off running.”

Happy stopped talking, glancing to his side to watch Peter’s expression. The teen stared straight ahead.

“You heard Tony’s heart stop, didn’t you?”

Peter nodded with a jerky motion. More tears slipped down his cheek. He glanced away.

Happy sighed, again. He lifted his arm and wrapped it around Peter’s shoulders, and pulled him close to his side. “Kid,” He sighed again. “Your powers really are shitty, aren’t they?”

Peter nodded, mumbling under his breath. “Yeah.”

He didn’t escape Happy’s notice that Peter hadn’t looked him in the eyes. “Kid, kid, look at me.” He spoke firmly.

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger warnings:   
> Character death/implied character death  
> heavy angst/mental health  
> Cpr, depression, emotional trauma


End file.
